


in the balance

by Riverdaughter



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Forever Evil (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, But not exactly, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Forever Evil Arc (DCU), Gen, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt/Comfort, No Beta, Protective Bruce Wayne, So does his dad, and, author might just be venting after aggressively re-reading Nightwing 30, definitely, he's not exactly father of the year but he's trying, the comfort is kind of lacking, we die like robins, well hurt, yeah that one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:07:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29192790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riverdaughter/pseuds/Riverdaughter
Summary: He’d always been Bruce’s light, Batman’s light when all others went out. And now they want him to let that light die, flicker back into the darkness that Bruce had been caught in.How can he let that happen?
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	in the balance

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely inspired by Forever Evil but pretending that hug actually meant something. Ergo Nightwing #30 never happened and neither did Spyral...
> 
> And just for kicks, its not the Crime Syndicate but a crazed alt-Batman since there are plenty of those running around.

It’s a situation that Bruce has seen played out before, has even been the calm voice of reason for. Common sense, reason, _the greater good_ , they are just words now.

Words that will cost him dearly, because this is the situation that he has always, always dreaded. The reason that he pushes people he loves away before he can lose them. The reason he pushed this person away, this _son_ of his away and it was all for nothing. Because Dick has always been braver than Batman. Has had his heart broken, his trust betrayed, his loved ones die and gets back up and offers his loyalty, his trust, love anyways.

Has offered all three to the mentor who drove him away, the father who would not acknowledge his son, the guardian who failed at guarding. And here they are anyways, because Bruce despite his inability to acknowledge it has loved Dick like a son. From the very beginning, looking into the tear-stained reflection of his own bitter childhood, from the moment the boy first discovered the dark knight and planted himself squarely by his side in darkness and peril and tragedy.

He’d always been Bruce’s light, _Batman’s_ light when all others went out. And now they want him to let that light die, flicker back into the darkness that Bruce had been caught in. And how can he let that happen?

Dick is an adult now, young still but grown beyond the shadow of his mentor, Nightwing, synonymous with rebirth, with change. But Bruce looks at him, looks at the awful otherworldly mirror of a Batman who never found his Robin and all he sees is the child.

The boy who saved him all those years ago, the one who kind to his replacement and his replacement’s replacement, who taught Bruce’s jaded son compassion and honor amidst his own grief. His mirror-self knows nothing, he thinks that Robin tethered him, prevented him from realizing his true potential. But the mirror-Bruce is cruel, he has wasted his potential and his energy, and worst of all his misplaced hatred has brought them here. To this forsaken hall of mirrors, to a choice that Bruce has never, ever wanted to make…

Between his world and his _child_ ; the other Bruce has never wrapped Robin’s tiny form in his cape praying that he will survive till morning, has never seen his son shot in front of him, has never woken to running feet and a bright smile. Has never had the dreadful realization a decade and a half too late, that it was always worth it even knowing that it will end.

Because end it must and end it always does…

Dick hasn’t said anything from where he is trapped behind the glass. It could simply be soundproof, or Bruce’s double could have done something. Dick is not usually so silent, so still especially when in mortal peril. He has always been light-footed and quicksilver, with much in common to the human Mercuries he befriends. And Bruce staggers just a little, he knows they are watching, Bruce’s colleagues, Dick’s _friends_. They cannot reach them in here, cannot help but they can see, the Bat, his broken reflection and his son, unmasked, his life holding a world in balance.

The balance is precarious, and he needs to choose, but how can he, when he already has? When they all know, from Superman down to Dick himself that Bruce is going to choose the world over his son. That he always has, and he always will. That the struggle is real anyways and that it is so very tempting to be selfish, to ignore the command in his son’s eyes, to rescue him and escape into the first mirror universe that he sees.

But Dick is not just his son, he is the leader of the Titans, a human who can stand among gods, who even captured and hurt, anonymity stripped away can choose to sacrifice what is left, who will never forgive his father if he saves one life, however precious by condemning the rest. He loses Dick no matter what he chooses.

And he pulls the lever.

**Author's Note:**

> ...and then Bruce woke up, picked up his phone, called his son and told him that he loved him. 
> 
> ya know, instead of telling everyone that he was dead, and beating him into accepting a dangerous mission with no back-up...


End file.
